A blog for the United States branch of the global Centre for Fortean Zoology

At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Sunday, 31 May 2015

2013: Premier of the purported documentary film Alien
Paranormal: Bigfoot, UFOs and the Men in Black, theorizing that
Bigfoot-type creatures travel to Earth aboard UFOs, with their arrival covered
up by sinister "men in black."

2008: Anonymous witnesses in Live Oak County, Texas, report reports
strange sounds from a wooded river bottom, attributed to Bigfoot. Previously
heard on May 17, in the latter encounter the hikers describe "the sound of
[a] tree being hit, followed by the loud snapping of a large tree trunk and
then [a] crashing sound like it is breaking other trees on its way down."
No creature is seen in the flesh.

The story of the legendary Wampus Cat of various parts of the United States is treated elsewhere on this website. However, John Hairr in his book Monsters of North Carolina, points out that the term wampus or wampus cat can be found used for a variety of unknown creatures as well as the classic Wampus Cat. He is not sure where the term comes from, but he thinks it may be of Scottish origin, because of the considerable number of Scottish settlers in regions where it is used. Scots was in the Middle Ages a separate language from English, but now has merged with it.

This must remain in the realm of uncertainty. There is a North Carolina word wampus meaning crooked and also an odd person, perhaps somewhat thuggish. Scots itself, as far as I know, does not have wampus but I cannot vouch with certainty for its non-existence. It does have a verb wampish, to wriggle.

However, I think the most likely origin of the word is from catawampus which was used to mean a scary creature or being, perhaps preternatural. This is possibly a word of American origin, perhaps just made up. Beyond this, I cannot go.

Thursday, 28 May 2015

2012: Two women hiking in the forest near Bailey, Colorado,
report seeing a "huge" bipedal creature covered in "grayish"
hair "running past them at a speed so fast that at first they couldn't
imagine what it would be." They agree it must have been at least seven
feet tall.

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

2011: A resident of Neshoba County, Mississippi, reports
growling and rock-throwing around his rural home. He blames Bigfoot without
seeing the subject responsible, claiming "it wasn't a growl of a bear and before we heard the growl we smelled
something like a skunk or something that rolled around in a sewage."

A hefty kangaroo seems to have taken up residence in the city of Brisbane, Australia. This muscular animal is now regularly to be seen in the area and has been espied on the North Lakes Golf Course, but does not seem to have a handicap. While small kangaroos are not unknown in the area, this one seems to be a bruiser and has occasioned considerable surprise.

I like cats. I thought, therefore, I'd put in a few items of folklore about this interesting animal.Cats are sometimes referred to as domestic, but only to a limited extent. If it dislikes your ménage and happens to have discovered a more suitable household, thither it will fare and establish itself. They don't like moving house and will sometimes trek back to their old abode if you move. The cat was revered in Ancient Egypt and in the Egyptian language - no longer spoken, for they speak Arabic in Egypt today - it was called miaow. The cat may have first started to interact with people in China. It looks as though this started out as a kind of symbiosis with humans and progressed from there.However, some people do not like cats and are actually wary of them. A cat will look at you as though he is summing you up and probably is. If you care for a cat that is not your own, it will sometimes leave a tasty mouse on your doorstep as repayment.Some people say if a black cat crosses your path, it means good luck. Some people say it means bad luck. Black cats were sometimes thought to be the familiars of witches. They are disliked in parts of the United States and also in Belgium and Spain. If you pay money for a cat, it is said it will not be a good mouser. If a cat is seen washing itself, bad weather is coming. If a cat sneezes, it will rain. A peculiarly American superstition is that, if a cat washes in the doorway, a clergyman will arrive. If a cat appears next to the bride during a wedding, it is taken as a good omen.It is said that a cat has nine lives. This is probably because cats often fall from high places and survive. Pope Benedict XVI had a special liking for cats and would talk to the stray cats of Rome. Perhaps he still does since his retirement.Some people feel that cats do not show affection, but what they are really doing is blaming the cat for not being a dog. Cats do not show affection in the way dogs do, for they are different animals and show affection differently. I feel cars need to be appreciated more.

On June 6th there will be a guided nature walk at the Helen W. Buckner Memorial Preserve. As this area is known as the Bigfoot Epicenter of Vermont, you never know what you might encounter.now read on.....

As you can see, it's Phantom Day today, as we deal with two Phantom articles.The first is in Borrego (New Mexico), or, rather, about four miles away from it Here one night Charley Adams had set up his camp. He was about to sleep there. Well, it's what you do at night.Charley saw a light approach. It drew nearer. To his horror, he discerned an 8' skeleton, in its rib cage a sort of lantern shining. It seemed to proceed at a stumbling gait.Another witness, three years later, claimed to have seen the same thing. It was also seen by a search party, which followed it until it was out of sight.Don't ask me to explain this one.

The Blue Phantom was a car which drove around Illinois and from which shots were fired at people. The driver appears to have been something of a random shooter with no further objective in mind. But his identity has always been a mystery.The first shot was fired in 1952 near Joliet. Two cars were fired on and in one a man received a minor injury. The car surfaced again near Lincoln, where another shot was fired.June 2nd saw Edward Smith driving past the Sangamon River. There was a blue car there. A man with a rifle fired at him and, jumping into his vehicle, drove off. On June 8th there were ten shootings. June 9th saw a shooting at Clinton. Another shot was fired on June 10th. This time a police car pursued the fleeing vehicle unsuccessfully On June 19th a couple had to flee from a firing blue car. Four shots were fired on June 24th.Then the car, now dubbed 'the Blue Phantom', was seen no more. Its driver's motivations remain unknown and his identity unkenned.

A question that has long puzzled me is why, in Disney-related adaptations of Peter Pan, Captain Hook's left hand is shown as the missing one, replaced by a hook. The play states quite clearly that the crocodile bit off his right hand. Not alone in the Disney cartoon but in the series Once Upon a Time, Hook is shown having his left hand missing. Maybe cartoon art found a missing left hand easier to deal with in making combat scenes. I daresay this must remain an enigma.

Hook with correct hand missing

Could the photograph below give some clue to the change of hands? Here we have Boris Karloff, who played Hook on the New York stage, with a hook on the left hand.

However, the change of hands remains a mystery. Perhaps someone out there knows the answer.

What has been described as a 'green jellyfish UFO' has been reported in the Netherlands. Does this help bear-out the theory that UFOs are actually animals - at least sometimes.now read on....

A note for the interested:-Should you refer to this country as the Netherlands or Holland? The answer is the Netherlands. Holland is only a county within the Netherlands. If you want to annoy a Dutchman, refer to his country as Holland. It's as bad as thinking Ireland is part of Britain. The kingdom of the Netherlands was founded after the Napoleonic Wars. It originally included Belgium, but Belgium seceded.

A crane flying overhead was blown into a tiger enclosure at Fuyang Wildlife Park, China. This enclosure was home sweet home to three tigers. Visitors looked on in horror as they advanced on the crane with prandial intentions. However, the crane drove the striped gourmets off, not alone defending itself, but chasing them round the enclosure until they had to take refuge in their tiger house. The crane triumphed!

Thursday, 21 May 2015

2012: British geneticists at Oxford University invite anyone
holding purported samples of Yeti hair to submit them for DNA analysis to
identify their original sources. Seventeen months later, in October 2013, they
report that two samples indicate the possible survival of a previously unknown
"hybrid polar bear," descended from a prehistoric species, roaming
the Himalayas.

A new book by Michael Newton, Editor of CFZ-USA , is scheduled for publication in August. It deals with the strange creatures of West Virginia which is well known as a hotbed for such creatures. It will be available from Amazon and, no doubt, other outlets.

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

1954: Theatrical premiere of Monster from the Ocean
Floor, in which a one-eyed giant octopus interrupts an American beauty's
vacation in Mexico before meeting its match in the form of a mini-submarine.